8 LANDING PAGES CONVERTING AT MORE THAN 50%!

By Jon Mehlman Jon is a Senior Inbound Marketing Consultant at HubSpot. He helps customers of all shapes and sizes generate more visits, leads, and customers by focusing on achieving their marketing goals. Over the past two years, he has helped his clients develop their inbound strategies around blogging, content creation, keyword strategies, and email, but he’s most passionate about conversion rate optimization (CRO); the art and science of increasing conversion rates. Some of the CRO Jon focuses on incudes increasing:

• Blog subscribers • Call-to-action clicks • Landing page and form submissions • Email clicks

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1. GRATITUTE + FREE GIVEAWAY = LOTS OF CONVERSIONS – Just Add Ice Orchids / 14

2. TIMELESS, SIMPLE, AND TARGETED – The Dawson Academy / 27

3. ALIGNING COPY WITH IMAGERY - blueleaf / 37

4. A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS – Cinestyle / 45

5. ATTRACTING THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH EMOTION – The Cornell Lab of Ornithology / 53

6. USING WEBINARS FOR LEAD GENERATION - digitalrelevance / 59

7. DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK – Precept Ministries International / 66

8. SETTING EXPECTATIONS – Erickson International / 71

AN OVERIVEW OF LANDING PAGES, CONVERSION RATES, AND A/B TESTS / 7

EXAMPLES FROM 8 WORLD CLASS LANDING PAGES CONVERTING AT 50%+ / 13

THE LAST WORD & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES / 77

CONTENTS

CONVERSIONS INCREASE WHEN YOU SOLVE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS Traditional Advertising vs. Inbound Marketing My wife has been in advertising her entire career and she’ll be the first to acknowledge that established companies are still very reliant on traditional advertising to generate customers. They are slow and fearful to embrace new technologies. One of the main challenges her clients face is capturing leads that convert to sales, as well as measuring the return on investment of TV, radio, print, and billboard campaigns. Where are all those ad dollars going? Companies want an online presence, they know they need to be there, they often just don’t know how to get the most from the medium. Just having a company URL is not enough. Fortunately, more companies are beginning to see the huge opportunities that online marketing can have on their lead gen goals, and more important, their bottom line. They are learning how to drive traffic to their websites, incite consumers to stay engaged, fill out data, make purchases and return again and again. The Inbound Marketing Challenge In fact, I’ve challenged her to a bet that if given the same budget, I would be able to generate more customers using HubSpot’s inbound methodology, than her traditional marketing methods.

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How, you may ask - I’d create some killer content that’s aligned with my customers personas and buyer’s journey, and then tie the content to the corresponding landing pages. This is what I call “contextual content.” Contextual content refers to creating the right content, for the right person, at the right time in the sales process. As the adage goes, “it’s not about the quantity, it’s about the quality.” Visitors would come to the landing page, fill out the form, download the content, and either become a customer, or get added to a lead nurturing campaign for sales people to follow up. Leave em Feeling Good For Taking Action! The best landing pages, are the ones that leave no doubt in your visitors mind that they’ve come to the right place, and are downloading the right content. The content will be educational, help them get answers to questions or provide a solution that’s going to save them time and/or money. To help you get started creating your own “world class landing pages,” I’ve included eight examples of HubSpot customers who designed landing pages that have at least a 50% conversion rate. There are 55 tips to illustrate the various conversion elements that are attributing to their success, as well as commentary and additional tips to test and increase conversion rates even more. Before we continue, let’s develop some ground work for what a landing page is, why they’re so important, and then do the same for conversions, as well as A/B testing.

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AN OVERVIEW OF LANDING PAGES, CONVERSION RATES, AND A/B TESTING

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CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS A LANDING PAGE? A landing page is your foundation, and one of the most important elements of a well designed inbound strategy. Think of your landing page as a destination. It’s where a visitor on your site lands because they were attracted to your content, want to sign up for your webinar, or maybe want to engage with a sales person. A landing page has a form on it. Your goal is to design such a compelling and enticing landing page that your visitor willingly fills out the form and provides you with their contact information, in exchange for your content (Guide, Ebook, Webinar, Case Study, etc…). Your new lead is eager to reap the information benefits after this personal transaction. WHY ARE LANDING PAGES IMPORTANT? The reason why landing pages are so important is because they are one of the best and most immediate ways to get a visitor to convert to a lead. When a visitor fills out a form on your landing page they are giving you personal access. The information you get allows you to know this customer in great detail and helps you understand if this person is truly a good lead, or still needs to be nurtured.

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WHAT DOES A CONVERSION LOOK LIKE? There are many stages of conversion. Anything from a stranger (someone who’s never been to your site before) becoming a subscriber to your blog, to an existing customer who is converting to a repeat customer, or anything in between. A typical conversion might look something like this.

1. Stranger goes to Google and performs a search 2. Stranger clicks on a link to your blog article and becomes a visitor 3. Visitor reads your blog article 4. Visitor clicks on the call-to-action button at the bottom of blog article 5. Visitor is redirected to your landing page 6. Visitor completes the form on your landing page and downloads content

(Conversion) 7. Visitor becomes a new lead (or reconverts again as an existing lead) 8. Lead is redirected to Thank You Page (Opportunity to bring your lead closer to a

sale, or upsell/cross-sell) 9. Lead continues nurturing process until she becomes a customer or opts-out 10. Customer is “delightfully” nurtured into a happy and loyal brand promoter, and

perhaps a repeat customer

Therefore, when someone visits your landing page, your goal is to provide reassurance, credibility and trust, that meets and exceeds their expectations, so that they will provide you with their personal contact information in exchange for your content.

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WHAT IS A GOOD CONVERSION RATE? On average, landing pages generate a 5-15% conversion rate. The good news is that if you take the time to test and analyze your landing pages, you can often significantly optimize the amount of your conversions and leads. One other important point is that a good conversion rate isn’t so much about an absolute number or rate. A good conversion is more about “always be testing.” A key take away here is that even these eight customer examples, that all have at least a 50% conversion rate, should be continually tested and optimized because they can all be increased further. Just keep in mind the point of diminishing returns. WHAT IS AN A/B TEST? Think about an A/B test as changing just one variable on your landing page to see which results in a higher conversion rate. For example, you can test the copy of your subject line, the color of your call-to-action button, or the fields on your form. The important thing is that you only change one element at a time so that you can measure exactly what attributed to the change. Anybody can test a landing page, but in order to do so properly, you’ll want to determine the validity of the data to ensure that you have a high level of statistical significance as well as an acceptable confidence rate. The take away here is that the higher the frequency of visitors to your landing page, the quicker you’ll be able to test new ideas because you will be able to determine if your confidence rate is acceptable.

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WHAT SHOULD YOU TEST TO INCREASE YOUR CONVERSION RATES? There ARE so many variables to consider when designing a new landing page. The important thing is just to publish it. Once published, you can begin testing specific variables or hypothesis, and start tracking all of your leads who are downloading your content from your landing page, and where they are in the buying process. To help you develop your own hypothesis, I’ve selected 8 world class landing pages, from current HubSpot customers, to illustrate how you can test and optimize your landing page conversions. I consider these “world class” because every one of these landing pages has at least a 50% conversion rate! Since there are so many variables you can test, you can bucket them based on the six criteria I’ve described below.

1. Personalization – The more your visitors feel like your landing page is talking directly to them, the greater your chances for conversion.

2. High Anxiety – Most online visitors are untrusting and skeptical. That’s just human nature. That’s way it’s critical to align expectations. Once on your landing page the form, testimonials, company logos, and security badges are all important elements to reduce friction.

3. Copy That Sucks – Sucks you in that is. Remember that old adage, “You only get one chance to make a good first impression?” Well that rings very true here.

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4. And Action! – Include copy in your headline, body copy and CTA that compels them to take action. Play to their emotions.

5. Visual Affirmations – There’s more than just images to consider when you design your landing page and CTA buttons. Video, page sections, bullets, white space, contrasting colors, and directional queues are all great elements to increase your conversions.

6. Clear and compelling CTA – Short but sweet, with a touch of flair and curiosity. For example, "Subscribe to receive killer optimization tips - Over 200 other people already have.”

To get started, pick an existing landing page and test just one element. To help you decide, think about what element would attract the highest quality lead. What I mean is, think about conversions that will help your sales team close more business, faster. And don’t be afraid to go with your gut. Don’t overcomplicate things. There is no right or wrong here. Flint McGlaughlin, Managing Director and CEO of MECLABS, said it best when he stated, “There are not expert marketers; there are only experienced marketers and expert testers.” If it's visual inspiration you need, or just some proven techniques and best practices, please take a look at these 55 easy to apply and actionable conversion tips from 8 world class landing pages. Many, if not all of these tips are directly applicable to your landing pages. Use them to increase your own conversions.

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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

• The Truth in Numbers section contains actual metrics from live landing pages. • The Why So Many Conversions section are my high-level opinions as to why each

landing page is so successful. • Comments with orange boxes are intended to highlight best practices and reinforce

positive conversion strategies.

• Comments with blue boxes provide some ideas to optimize your landing pages for conversion by performing a/b tests.

• The information icons peppered throughout this guide provide additional color to help you think about how to use these examples to increase your conversions.

Comments with orange boxes

Comments with blue boxes

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EXAMPLES FROM 8 WORLD CLASS LANDING PAGES CONVERTING AT +50%

CHAPTER 2

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GRATITUDE + FREE GIVEAWAY = LOTS OF CONVERSIONS: Just Add Ice Orchids

Truth In Numbers • Landing Page Age: 1 month • Views: 328 • Submissions: 287 • Submission Rate: 87.5% • New Contacts Rate: 24.1%

Why So Many Conversions • Just Add Ice Orchids (JAIO) did

a great job of reducing friction and increasing the level of trust.

• This offer really does a great job of tugging at your emotional heart-strings.

• Great example of using segmentation to market to social media and Facebook users.

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“Celebrating” and “Thank You” are two words that everyone loves to hear. They emote happy feelings, help develop rapport, and reduce friction

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People gravitate towards numbers. And in this context, 30,000 adds credibility and social proof that if so many other people are “members,” than you should be too.

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Free giveaways convert very well, especially if you're giving away the very product or service that people come to your web site to learn more about and purchase.

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But wait! If you win, not only can you tell your friends, but you get to give orchids to two of them!

Genius marketing here. JAIO created 30 raving fans, and 20 of them likely aren't even customers yet.

Great job of establishing and building customer loyalty!

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JAIO clearly targeted social media, and specifically Facebook, with this offer.

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Creating a sense of urgency using a limited time offer is another well documented strategy that increases conversions.

A specific window of time often generates action and spikes sales. No one likes to miss a good deal!

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Can't help but notice how this form stands out because it's colored light blue. It immediately draws my attention and my eye path goes to the form.

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Great example of using contrasting colors. The light blue form surrounding the plum colored call-to-action really makes the button pop.

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Try “Enter to Win,” for example

If you haven't done an A/B test before, this is a great place to start. You should use anything other than "Submit.”

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If you're a JAIO fan, wouldn't you like to receive an email on your birthday offering you a special orchid discount in honor of your special day?

Since winners must be "15 years or older," JAIO could have asked for birth date on form.

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Create a sense of urgency by adding a notification like, "Hurry, offer ends June 19th"

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Adding social media share buttons may increase visits and conversions. People on Facebook are most likely fans of social media in general, and are probably more inclined to share via Facebook, as well as other social media channels.

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Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age : 2 months

• Views: 1,047 • Submissions: 723 • Submission Rate: 69.1% • New Contacts Rate: 4.1%

TIMELESS, SIMPLE, AND TARGETED The Dawson Academy

Why So Many Conversions

• Design is aligned with dentists “professional” persona

• Time is at a premium. Good job of providing an overview and making it easy and fast to digest the landing page content.

• Good use of white space – “less is more.”

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Notice that there is no navigation, so no opportunity for visitors to get distracted and click away

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Great use of thought leadership (Drs. Cranham & Finlay) to establish trust and credibility

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In addition to being “easy on the eyes,” these bullets are compelling because they begin with “How,” “What,” and “Why."

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The copy tells the visitor exactly what to do next, “fill out the form to the right.”

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Good use of the Salutation field. Great way to know if lead is a dentist, lab technician, professor, or has some other type of credentials and accreditations. Better segmentation equals better marketing

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“How did you hear about us?” may be a good way to measure how effective your offline sources are.

Traditionally, radio and TV advertising are challenging for most to measure their ROI. Adding a specific media channel to your forms is a good way to tie your marketing campaigns back to revenue and expenses.

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I recommend adding photos of Drs. Cranham and Finlay to test if their images increase conversions.

While you’re at it, test their images against a photo of the whitepaper to see which converts better.

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Who else is involved in the purchase decision? While a dentist may be the ultimate decision maker, a hygienist or office manager could be a major influencer.

Capturing “Role/Job Title” information is very valuable during the buying process. In this example, a dentist may be more interested in esthetic restoration technology, while an office manager may be responsible for solving for budget, maintenance contracts, and installation of the equipment.

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Take advantage of geo-targeting. If you capture address information, you can send emails when classes are being offered in there area, for example.

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Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 8 months • Views: 1,774 • Submissions: 1,018 • Submission Rate: 57.4% • New Contacts Rate: 31.7%

ALIGNING COPY WITH IMAGERY blueleaf

Why So Many Conversions

• No distractions. There are no other links or buttons that would prevent a visitor from converting.

• Great copy! • Compelling bullets • Great use of form design to

help with segmentation

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Timely – Using the year “2013” let’s people know it’s current and motives them to act fast.

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“Avoid the #1 mistake ALL the so-called experts teach” is a great example of copy that evokes curiosity

Great job of playing to their emotion. Wouldn’t you want to download to make sure you’re not guilty?

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“Why referral marketing failed you and how you can fix it” is an example of great copy that oozes empathy

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Bullets are so compelling. In fact, each one could be a separate blog article or other piece of content.

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Nice job of segmentation. It’s obviously very valuable for blueleaf to know who their prospects and customers use as a custodian.

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“Get it Now” is a great action phrase. This CTA gives your reader an extra queue to complete the conversion process.

31.80% of visitors who completed the form were first time leads. That’s a nice added bonus!

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Don’t be afraid to ask! If the “Company Name” field was required, would it reduce conversions?

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I don’t think so, but knowing that a lead was from a “big named account,” like Merrill Lynch, would be a good indicator of potential lead value. 44

A Picture Says a Thousand Words Cinestyle

Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 18 weeks

• Views: 47,391 • Submissions: 27,160 • Submission Rate: 57.3% • New Contacts Rate: 36.6%

Why So Many Conversions

• Good use of using “audience speak” - language that your persona relates to

• Imagery that shows expected results

• Everyone likes a “Free” offer and this one tells you exactly what you’re getting

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“So you capture more colors” is an example of great copy that answers the “why”.

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Love the visual images comparing the two profiles side-by-side.

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Notice there are 10 fields on this form. Yet another example of how a long firm doesn’t necessarily have a negative impact on conversions.

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Studies have shown that white text on a black background doesn’t convert as well, but in this case, it’s important to note that the design is part of Cinestyle’s brand and consistent throughout their entire site.

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Clearly a great offer for photography enthusiasts which is why the “What kind of projects are you primarily editing?” field could have been required without negatively impacting conversions.

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If you’re like most companies that segment your sales territories geographically, make City, State/Region and Country fields required if you want to forward leads to a specific salesperson. Conversely, you can utilize country field to disqualify leads if you’re not marketing to certain countries.

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Use anything other than “Submit” for your CTA. In this case, I might try testing something like “Download Your Free Profile”

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ATTRACTING THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH EMOTION

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 7 months • Views: 1,932 • Submissions: 1,103 • Submission Rate: 57.1% • New Contacts Rate: 18.2%

Why So Many Conversions

• They know their target audience - teachers of grades K- 12

• Imagery of kids converts well • Mission statement at bottom

adds trust and credibility

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“Free” converts. It’s a fact! It grabs your attention and increases conversion.

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Masterful photo of kids all looking at something with great interest. Kids convert almost as well as babies, puppies, and kittens

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The “grass-roots” like mission statement adds a feeling of credibility, community and harmony.

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“Type of Educator” is a great segmentation element. Just wish it was required.

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To download your free guide, please complete the form on the right.

Try adding a final sentence, below the bullets, reiterating and encouraging the reader to complete the form on the right. If you do, you’re likely to see an increase in conversions

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USING WEBINARS FOR LEAD GENERATION digitalrelevance

Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 1 month • Views: 1,053 • Submissions: 594 • Submission Rate: 56.4% • New Contacts Rate: 16.4%

Why So Many Conversions

• Relevant subject matter to target audience

• Aaron’s bio and photo provides a great example of establishing credibility, authority, and thought leadership

• Including contact information at bottom builds trust and transparency

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Despite making these fields required, digitalrelevance still had a 56.4% conversion rate and 16.4% of registrants were new leads!

Notice how digitalrelevance made "Website," "Phone," "Revenue," and “Challenges with Current Strategy" required fields. They’re not afraid to ask!

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The names and photos of the facilitators, the GoToWebinar logo, and the date and time when the webinar is scheduled adds trust and credibility and reduces friction

Webinars are great content to determine if a lead is actively considering your products or services because attendees would not commit to giving up their time if they weren't genuinely interested.

If you’re lucky, approximately 50% of the people that register for your webinar will attend. When salespeople follow up, registrants and actual attendees should be segmented, and marketed to differently

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Great example of providing important information in a digestible way.

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The "Meet Your Host" section is another great example of how you can establish yourself as a though leader. Not only does it include a brief bio of Aaron, but there's a link to his weekly Inc.com column.

People who may be skeptical are now thinking, "this guy must be relevant.”

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digitalrelevance provided their address and phone at the bottom of the landing page which establishes additional trust and credibility, and reduces friction.

What I really like about that is serious leads can immediately pick up a phone and call. Isn't that the ultimate lead generation goal?

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This is the highest ranking conversion for a landing page with form on the left. Would moving form to the right increase conversions?

Option 3: Would placing form below the “Meet Your Host” section increase conversions? (single column)

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Add field to capture timeline data. For example, when will your visitor be ready to invest in your services?

Is adding timeline, and making it required being too greedy? Would doing so reduce conversions? Don’t know. That’s why you have to test

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DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK Precept Ministries International

Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 3 months

• Views: 8,930 • Submissions: 4,900 • Submission Rate: 54.9% • New Contacts Rate: 25.8%

Why So Many Conversions

• Religion is one of the verticals that experiences a higher than average conversion rate

• Beautiful art work in landing page header

• Nice job of setting expectations. The visitors knows what she's going to get if she completes the desired action

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"Download your FREE copy today >>" is a good example of using action words combined with directional queues.

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Precept is located in Chatanooga, TN, and organizes events all over the country. Capturing Postal Code enables them to take advantage of marketing their events to very specific geographic areas.

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Precept should have removed the main navigation at the top of the landing page to prevent visitors from getting distracted and clicking away.

Remember, your goal is a conversion so don’t distract them. Bring the navigation back on the thank you page only AFTER they’ve converted as a lead.

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By completing your form, your new lead have intrinsically opted-in to your emails. So instead of asking them to confirm, Precept should ask visitors to subscribe to their blog

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SETTING EXPECTATIONS Erickson International

Truth In Numbers

• Landing Page Age: 7 months • Views: 909 • Submissions: 491 • Submission Rate: 54% • New Contacts Rate: 3.2%

Why So Many Conversions

• Very clean and simple design

• Compelling subject line • Subject line ties in very

nicely with sub-header and bullets

• Nice example of setting expectations.

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Using numbers in your headline and copy should increase conversions (but test it).

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And oddly enough, odd numbers tend to convert better than even numbers.

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Great copy! Example of words that take the visitor by the hand and leads them to conversion. • "Welcome“ • "coaching journey“ • "we are here for you“ • "every step of the way“ • "easy to understand“ • "get you thinking“ • "coaching works"

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List of numbers that does a beautiful job of aligning expectations.

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Once again, anything is better than “Submit.”

How about “Download Your Free Guide Now!”

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Only 3.2% of submissions are new contacts, which means that almost 97% are existing leads.

This is a good indicator to ask for more information on the form. Like the type of coaching or training they’re interested in.

Why? Because the more data points you can gather on your leads, the more targeted your messaging can be, and the better chance you have of converting leads into customers.

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THE LAST WORD & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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CHAPTER 3

JUST TEST IT! Testing is really a ton of fun, especially when you are able to constantly increase your conversion rates and iterate based on what the data is telling you. But remember, even though every single landing page in this guide is converting over 50%, there’s always something you can improve with testing. And, you don’t need to have a perfect landing page to see some really high conversion rates. So just publish it and then test it! If you’re interested in learning more on the subject of landing page optimization, I encourage you to check out the following resources: It's so easy to get overwhelmed, so don't! Just pick one element to test. Do it! Now! RESOURCES How to Build Landing Pages that Convert • How to Use Landing Pages for Business – HubSpot – Introductory guide to get

started building landing pages that convert . • 50 Ways To Seduce Your Web Visitors With Persuasive Landing Pages –

KISSmetrics – Stellar illustrations and examples that showcase various elements to help you create killer landing pages

• How to Establish a ‘Control’ Landing Page for a New Product or Service – Crazy Egg – Great step-by-step approach and formulas to create landing pages that convert.

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How to Optimize for Conversions • Conversion Centered Design: Essential Elements of High Converting Landing

Pages – Unbounce & HubSpot publication – My favorite conversion guide. Worth reviewing just for the “Jam Study” on page 6.

• How to Optimize Landing Pages for Conversion – HubSpot - Great resource that takes the “How to Use Landing Pages” and combines it with the “why.” It’s the ultimate guide for marketers want to become conversion ninjas.

• 35 Beautiful Landing Page Design Examples to Drool Over [With Critiques] – Unbounce – A beautiful compilation of landing pages, along with expert commentary. (Could have fit just as well in either section).

Start A/B Testing • 8 Simple Online Copywriting Case Studies with Examples from Real A/B Tests –

ContentVerve – Great examples and illustrations of a/b testing at it’s best. • 25 Ways to Evaluate Conversion Elements for New Testing Ideas – i-on

Interactive – Great framework for organizing a strategy around your a/b testing.

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